U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander defends stand on new clean-air rules

WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander, breaking with many in the Republican Party, said Wednesday he will vote to uphold a new federal clean air rule.

That means Alexander will not be voting to support a resolution, sponsored by Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., to disapprove the Environmental Protection Agency's new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for power plants.

The vote is expected to be close because Inhofe has the support of some Senate Democrats.

Alexander instead has introduced a bill with Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., that gives utilities six years, rather than the rule's prescribed three, to install the necessary equipment to meet the new EPA standards.

Alexander said he would also ask President Barack Obama by letter to exercise his own authority to allow a six-year implementation of the new rule.

Because of Alexander's stance, a group calling itself American Commitment has sponsored an ad running in Tennessee that calls Alexander "anti-coal" and said his stand is "a vote against Tennessee."

Phil Kerpen, president of American Commitment, recently called Alexander the only Senate Republican who has publicly sided with President Obama on the issue.

Alexander, however, said he is "standing up for Tennessee."

According to the EPA, the MATS would prevent 11,000 premature deaths and 130,000 asthma attacks a year by 2016, if adopted. Mercury poisoning has been linked to birth defects.

Alexander said utility companies have known the standard was coming since 1990 and noted the Tennessee Valley Authority has committed to placing pollution control equipment on the coal-fired power plant units it plans to continue employing.

In Memphis, the status of TVA's Allen coal-fired plant is still being evaluated, with options including the installation of air-pollution scrubbers, construction of a new natural gas plant or conversion of the existing plant to gas, said utility spokesman Travis Brickey.

Alexander said he has met with representatives of utility companies and has been told they would prefer the longer six-year period to spread the cost of complying over that period and have a less dramatic effect on electricity bills.

Giving them more time, rather than scrapping the rule altogether, helps Tennessee in several ways, Alexander said.

"I believe the rule will pretty much finish the job of implementing national clean air rules that will greatly improve the health of Tennesseans," he said. "We don't want to permanently have three of the top five asthma cities in the U.S., with Nashville vying to be in the top 10.

"We don't want to have the most polluted national park. And we don't want to lose an auto plant for the Memphis megasite because the air's too dirty, particularly if the air blows in from some other state."

Alexander also noted that Tennessee has 546 residents working in coal mines, but 1,200 Tennesseans working at the Alstom plants in Knoxville and Chattanooga that supply much of the pollution control equipment required under the disputed rule.

In a statement late Wednesday, Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., indicated he supports Inhofe's resolution as well as Alexander's bill.

Corker said: "I strongly support clean air and efforts to control mercury emissions, and I am a co-sponsor of a bill that would allow these rules to go into effect, while giving industry additional time to comply. I will support the resolution of disapproval because I don't believe the rule that's been promulgated gives utilities enough time to comply without unnecessarily increasing energy prices and hindering job growth."